Dumb Question about Purchases and Inventory

When we prepare financials for clients, we indicate the actual amount of purchases on the P&L and the remaining inventory on the balance sheet.

We "let the tax return" sort out the gross profit to include inventory.

I have a P&L here from a restaurant client, prepared by a professional bookkeeper, that shows the purchases already adjusted for the change in inventory and nothing on the balance sheet. There are other COGs and as a result, I don't think the P&L is technically accurate.

Example (simplified numbers) tax return shows:

2022 ending inventory $91,000
2023 purchases $271,000
2023 ending inventory $90,000

Their bookkeeper's P&L shows:

Purchases $272,000

The balance sheet shows nothing for inventory.

I have the ending inventory and actual purchase amount from the client and I can comfortably use those numbers to report things correctly on the tax return.

But do I politely suggest that the ACTUAL purchase amount should likely be included on the P&L and the ending inventory to be on the balance sheet?

If there is actually $90K of inventory on hand, I would argue the BS is incorrect and the P&L is incorrect as an extension of that.
What's the beginning balance sheet look like for the client? This dynamic will prove out accuracy.

I don't consider having a full set of financials unless I have the beginning balance sheet, ending balance sheet, and P&L for the period in between.

If there is actually $90K of inventory on hand, I would argue the BS is incorrect and the P&L is incorrect as an extension of that.
What's the beginning balance sheet look like for the client? This dynamic will prove out accuracy.

I don't consider having a full set of financials unless I have the beginning balance sheet, ending balance sheet, and P&L for the period in between.

The 2022 end of year balance sheet from the prior bookkeeper shows the inventory, the end of year 2023 from the new bookkeeper does not.

I wonder why the new bookkeeper does not include it or mashes it into he purchase figure.

I can ask for a 01/01/2023 balance sheet but I suspect it will not include the inventory.

Perhaps a subtle suggestion is the way to go here like, "here is your tax return, you might mention to your bookkeeper that it is likely more correct to track inventory on the balance sheet and to include the actual purchase cost value on the P&L (see the tax return, page XX)"

Setting aside differences in treatment between financials and tax, based on the example you gave the income statement should report COGS of $272k and $90k on balance sheet. This is what should be reported for GAAP-compliant financials (very few bookkeepers have any grasp of GAAP, though!), and also not to be confused with AFS financials.

What I am not grasping is how the bookkeeper is reporting $272k on income statement as an expense ("purchases"), yet nothing for remaining inventory anywhere else? It cannot just disappear, so where did the $90k go?

Your concern is tax, but then how treatment applies for the post-2017 small business rules. Does 471(c) apply?